Persona 4: The Chaos Within
by Raidou The 16th
Summary: Yu closed in on Namatame, knelt to his level, grabbed him by the collar, and stared into his eyes. He was so desperate, he was about to jump out of the window when the group came into the room. He must have been fearing the incoming punishment for his crimes. That was what Yu saw. Then at 11:58 pm, he made his decision. A rewrite of P4: Chaos Ending. R&R, enjoy.
1. The Choice

**Hello guys, welcome to my story. Again. I decided to start it over, since I wanted to add new elements to the plot, turn some things around, make it more interesting. So, I hope you enjoy this new version. It'll have more mysteries. Oooooooh *waves fingers spookily*. Ahem. I don't own persona nor its characters. Read, review, tell me what you think, and, principally, enjoy.**

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><p><strong><em>- Inaba municipal hospital-<em>**

"There's no way I'm forgiving that bastard! He killed three people and now he says he wants his freedom? No way I'm leaving this room without bringing justice upon that murderer!" Yosuke spat the sentence, as he pointed towards Namatame as if he was a diseased dog, with pure rage flowing through his veins.

"W-wait, slow down, what do you mean by 'justice'? Yosuke..." Chie flinched at the thought. As lame as his jokes were, he was always there to lighten up any situation, not make it heavier. And even though she, herself was the one arguing and having those petty feuds with him, she wouldn't have him any way else.

She wouldn't love him any way else.

It seemed he never did return the feeling, and that alone hurt a lot, but to hear his voice twisted by anger like that... to see such hatred in his brown eyes... She didn't recognize him anymore. She knew that she had a more important task in her hands, but she couldn't keep her mind away from those thoughts. Those were strong feelings that she was dealing with.

"Senpai, I know how you feel, but..." Rise expressed her concerns. She could put up quite the calm and clear-thinking facade in times of conflicts like this. That was one of the many things she'd learned in the showbiz: how to gain trust in an argument. She tried to cast aside her despair in order to try and get the group to use reasoning instead of their feelings, but her thoughts weren't as organized as she thought they should have been.

No, this couldn't be the answer, this wasn't happening... Were they even thinking about doing this? This was just wrong! They had to stop it right now! The doubts and conflicting thoughts in her mind made the words disappear from her mouth for a split second.

Time enough for Yosuke to cut her off and raise his voice again.

"Everyone, listen!" he demanded, stealing Rise's turn to speak. "This man killed three people. The law can't touch him, because no one would believe in our story. If we leave him be, he'll soon start 'saving' people again." his anger rose with every word he spoke. "That's just wrong, isn't it?! I know this is crazy, but it is something only we can do, and this is the only chance we'll get!"

"Yosuke-kun, please, listen to reason!" Yukiko pleaded, having enough of this madness. Were they really going to do this? Were they really going down to the same level of that murderer? Yosuke had gone far enough, and it was time he realized how extreme and unnecessary his idea was.

"Yukiko-san." he said, as turned towards Yukiko with a suddenly sober expression. "If this man man gets his freedom and ends up killing another person, will you own the responsibility of letting him free?" he argued. He got that Yukiko was afraid, but that was their duty. They had to put an end to that threat that the others still insisted to treat as a human.

She tried to think of a rebut for a while, but eventually lowered her head. Yosuke had a point... But there had to be another way... She couldn't do this with her own hands... She just couldn't.

Yosuke sighed. They were wasting way too much time. "If any of you doesn't want to take part on this, leave now. I won't hate you for doing so. But then again, I'm not the one in position to judge, right now. But Yu, please, I beg you: stay here. I want to hear your opinion as the leader, and as the person I trust the most."

The group fell silent at that. Especially Kanji and Naoto, who have been particularly quiet, even before they stepped in Namatame's room.

Yukiko looked deep into Yu's eyes, in search for an answer. Being his girlfriend, she could hold hours of conversation with him in only a second of eye contact. She needed a lead, a guide of some sort. Hell, even something or someone to take responsibility for her actions would be fine. But for the first time, his eyes told her nothing. They just remained there, reflecting her image like a soulless mirror. Eventually, he mouthed 'I need to talk with him'. She was frustrated, verily so, but she just nodded slightly and chose to take her leave.

"Yosuke, I..." Chie started, but never finished. Yosuke just stood there, with a stare that pierced her very soul. His whole presence was screaming 'Get out of here'. He had been looking at her since he finished his speech, and if she knew better, she'd realized that he was concerned for her. But she didn't. She didn't know what to do, her mind was a mess. Before she could even think about it, her body was already moving forward...

And slapping his cheek.

She had to vent her indecision and frustration on something.

While his head was still facing away, Chie just whispered a shy 'I'm sorry'. Yosuke didn't even turn to face her when he said "... just go." she then glanced at Yu's way, and in turn he just nodded, saying 'Do it.' With that, she lowered her head and left.

Kanji was feeling... nothing. He just felt really numb. The best friends, if not the only ones he had in his entire life, were here, thrown into this situation. He looked at Yu, then at Yosuke, who had already straightened himself up, then back at the gray haired leader.

"I trust you, man. I know you'll do the right thing," Kanji said to the leader of the group, with a half-confident smirk on his face. Confidence was something he did not have at that moment, though. He was ready to leave the decision up to Yu. Not with the intent of pinning the blame and responsibility of a possible wrong choice on him, but with the faith that he had learned to put on his Senpai.

"I... have yet to reach that answer... Sorry, Kanji." Yu responded, unable to reassure him. He was usually good at putting up a leader's personality, but that time, he'd just be lying to himself and his friend if he said he knew the answer.

Kanji just stared in disbelief. If their fearless leader didn't have the answer, what help would he, himself be of? He just looked away and left.

Naoto's face was indifferent and contemplative, but it was really just a bluff. Inside, she was deeply hurt. She was really seeing Yosuke's point. But... was this the truth they sought? Did her short journey as a detective lead her to commit such crime for the sake of justice? And Nanako-chan... she was so mature, independent and strong at such young age... She shouldn't have been the one to go. Was it always going to be like this? Was she always going to lose those dear to her, and have to make such difficult decisions? If it was, she didn't want this kind of life anymore. She left.

Rise was in the verge of tears. 'I love you guys soooo much', she said back then, after they rescued her. And now, the fate they saved her from was being wished upon someone else...? Sure, this person was a murderer, himself, but was that really the right thing to do? Why was Nanako-chan dead, when that... scumbag was still alive? Was it really in their hands to deliver this kind of justice?

Was that even justice?

All those contradicting thoughts were waging war inside her, and her heart was the battlefield. Crying, she left, without looking back.

And then, only Yu, Yosuke and Namatame were left in the room.

Yosuke took a deep breath, before turning towards his partner. "...You and I both know the best how much this man took from every one of us. I lost the one I loved, we lost Nanako, because of him, Dojima-san is hurt, and I am sure someone cared enough about Yamano to be grieving upon her death, even to this day. That Mitsuo kid even tried to copy him, and killed King Moron!" he realized that he was raising his voice again, and cleared his throat before continuing. It was hard to keep calm...

"As I said earlier, the law can't touch him, because even if we told the police what happened, they would never believe us, and you know that. So it all comes down to a simple solution: we push him into the TV and it's all over. No need to worry about him coming back, no need to keep our guards up at all times... it'll be truly over." Yosuke tried to persuade his partner to the best of his ability. It was the right thing to do, he had to agree with him. That'd be the end of everything! "You are the leader, I'll follow whatever you decide to do. So, what will it be?"

Yu then looked at Namatame, who was nearly digging a hole in the ground with his fingernails. His bloodshot eyes were staring at the floor and his teeth were clenched together. Then Yu turned his eyes back to Yosuke, whose face was sober. It seemed he had no doubts in his mind.

Yu took a brief pause to think about everyone: Yukiko, Chie, Kanji, Rise, Teddie (who they hadn't seen since they left Nanako's room), Naoto, his uncle Dojima, Nanako, his friends... even the Velvet Room's inhabitants.

That was a tough decision. In fact, 'tough' was a huge understatement. That was going to change his life and stain his hands forever. Time seemed to stop as those million thoughts passed through his mind.

That was wrong, but what Namatame did was on another level. Even Dojima was willing to go that far.

But he still had one last thing to consider before making his final choice...

Yu closed in on Namatame, knelt to his eye level, grabbed him by the collar, and, blank faced, stared into Namatame's dark grey eyes.

They told him of despair, angst, discontentment, remorse and most of all, fear, as his eyes darted in all directions, subconsciously looking for an escape.

He was desperately hoping to get out of that situation. So desperate, he was about to jump out of the window, when the group came into the room. Yu kept trying to read Namatame's soul for long fifteen seconds, as Yosuke watched idly by.

His desire for freedom must have come from the fear of the incoming punishment for his crimes. That was what Yu saw.

Then, at 11:58 pm, the rain stopped. He had made his decision.

Verdict: guilty.

"Let's throw the bastard in."

"I knew you'd make the right choice, partner" Yosuke pitched in with a smirk. Finally, it was coming to an end.

Namatame's eyes widened and became even more bloodshot than before. He tried to claw his way out of the window, but was stopped by Yu grabbing him by the collar of his hospital gown.

"Grab his legs," he told Yosuke.

The brunette nodded and did just that. He took a hold of Namatame's ankles and helped Yu pull him back into the room. He couldn't contain himself, and split his legs apart before punting him in his manhood with all the might he could gather. He couldn't even scream, as the pain took his voice away.

Yu was about to reprimand his friend, but decided against it. Yosuke took the hair from in front of his eyes and helped bring Namatame over to the big television in the room.

"You ready?" Yosuke asked, as he pushed the man's head into the TV.

That was Yu's last chance to go back on his actions and think things over. He hesitated for a moment. Some pieces were still missing in the puzzle...

But even then, all leads pointed to him being the culprit. There was no doubt in his mind, anymore.

He nodded to his partner, and they both made the last effort to push Namatame into the TV world.

After he completely disappeared into the screen, Yosuke fell back and sat on the ground, panting hard. That was the most important moment of his life... he had just avenged the people that man had murdered. No words could express what he was feeling.

Yu put his hands on his knees, before running a hand through his hair. He had surely done the right thing, without a doubt, but... what was that feeling weighing him down? It was like... it felt a bit like remorse, but not quite. He couldn't describe the sentiment.

After that, he helped Yosuke up to his feet and they left the room before the guards came back.

They also tried to go to Dojima's room to tell him about the occurred, but visitation time had long since past. It was truly a shame... he would be proud to know that Namatame was dealt with.

With a heavy silence, they walked together back to their houses. When the time to part ways came, they faced each other. They didn't wave each other goodbye, or did a friendly handshake. They just stood there, waiting for the first word.

And it never came, as Yu was the first to look away and began to walk his way with his head hanging low. He still couldn't get over that unnamed feeling.

Yosuke just watched him walking away for a moment before shaking his head. He understood that his friend suffered irreparable losses, but he couldn't bring himself to share his pain in the face of the accomplishment they had reached. He looked up to the dark sky.

That was it. They did it.

It was all over.

He felt a drop of rain fall near his eye. That was when he snapped out of his daze and entered his house.

No one in the group, except for Naoto, managed to sleep that night.

...

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><p><strong>Welp, first chapter's done. Again, leave your critics and opinions in the review box below, I'm Raidou the 16th... and I approve this message *thumbs up*. See y'all next chapter. <strong>


	2. The Spark

**A/N: Hello guys. Welcome to another chapter. I used to answer reviews back in the old story, might as well answer them here, too. **

**Clear Chaos: Well, thank you very much. That's pretty much I aim for, to make people relate and feel touched by the scenes. Glad you enjoyed it. **

**The Blue Lights: Yeah, I do try to look out for every mistake, but hey, they happen still. With time I'll (hopefully) commit less and less mistakes, and the story will be much cleaner and easier to read. Glad you believe the characters' thought, it means that I did a decent job at least in someone's eyes. Thank you, and I hope you enjoy this chapter, as well.**

**Asher Grey: And here's another update. :D**

**Nightly7: Thanks, I'll try to keep it up, indeed.**

**As always, I don't own anything, not the game, not the company, not the character, I do this solely for entertainment. Well, on with the chapter.**

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><p>Yu got up early in the in the morning. He couldn't bring himself to close his eyes after what happened yesterday. Although it was Saturday, he wasn't planning on going to school. In the slightest.<p>

He descended the stairs to the living room without changing his clothes. He didn't even eat breakfast. He just just sat on the couch and... cried.

Cried upon the loss of his beloved cousin, upon what he did, everything, everyone. His heart was so heavy at that moment, each beat made him want to sob more.

He didn't even know what time it was when his cell phone rang. He cleared his throat and tried to answer the call.

"Hello?" he answered with his voice still a bit quivery.

"Hey it's Yosuke. You didn't go to school either, huh."

"Yeah." he said, before clearing his throat. "Sorry... did the others go?"

"Strangely enough, Chie of all people was asking me if I was going. I thought she was mad at me, but apparently not. Apparently. That aside, you wanna hang out today? I wanna clear my mind of all that, if that's even possible."

Maybe some fresh air would clear his lungs from all of that pain. Yeah, one afternoon walking around, and everything would go away...

Who was Yu kidding? None of that would leave his mind so easily. But he could try.

"Okay, sure." he answered.

Pause.

"Yu?"

"What?"

"Are you okay?"

"... No"

"Me, neither."

Silence

Yu held back the urge to sigh on his side of the line. Glad to know that he wasn't the only one who was a mess. Not. "When do we meet?"

"One pm, at the riverbed."

"Okay. See ya later." Yu hung up. Yosuke seemed pretty sober over the phone, despite his words. It was funny how disaster changed people. It seemed his friend was becoming a better bluffer. He couldn't decide whether that was good or bad, but frankly? He could care less about that.

After that, he went to wash his tear stained face. His reflection in the mirror disgusted him. He was in shambles.

He ate whatever he could for lunch, wore his casual clothes and headed to the meeting place.

**-Samegawa Riverbed-**

Yosuke was waiting there, sat on the bench with his pack by his side when Yu strolled in his direction.

"Yo," he greeted while Yu silently took his seat.

He pushed through the silence and continued. "... look what I've got." he said, before grabbing a bottle of Sake and two glasses from his pack.

Yu raised an eyebrow at that. While he examined his friend's face, he also noticed that he had very dark rings around his eyes, some scratch marks on his cheek and a red hand mark on his face.

"Where'd you get t-" he was deciding whether to reprimand Yosuke for offering him booze, or ask him about those marks, but he frankly didn't find enough will to care about neither. "... you know what, just pour me a glass already."

The brunette did just that, and then proceeded to fill his own glass.

"Ack, this tastes awful," Yu said as he reached half of the contents of his glass...

And then quickly downed the rest, only to shake his head a little with the heat that the drink brought upon his chest.

"Hey, Yu... didja hear already?" Yosuke asked. He was already starting to regret even starting the subject.

"What?"

Yosuke hesitated. He fidgeted a bit, but finally decided to spill the beans. He was going to find out one way or the other.

He took a deep breath and threw the verbal rock at Yu's head. "They found Naoto dead at the Shirogane state this morning."

At this point, Yu had halted completely with shock.

What the Hell did he just say?

Yosuke seemingly didn't notice this, and continued.

"Word is, she killed herself."

...

That broke Yu's limit.

"Fuck!" he shot up to his feet as the words hit his ears. His first reaction was to kick the bench out of rage, but he ended up hitting Yosuke's shin instead. Hard. He didn't care, however.

"Shit!" he began pacing about impatiently as the already bruised teenager held his shin in pain.

"Why?" he grabbed the brunette by the collar. "Why?!" he almost spat in his face as he lifted his friend off the ground.

"... it's not my fault..." Yosuke said nonchalantly despite the pain and his migraine, as he avoided his enraged friend's eyes. He wasn't sure whether he could hear anyone else repeating the word 'why' over and over again without snapping.

"It is!" Yu yelled.

"Then it's yours, too." he responded as calmly as he could, this time looking straight into Yu's eyes.

His rage slowly subsided and he finally let go of Yosuke, who fell back with his behind on the bench.

"Dammit, why?!" he asked no one in particular, as he ran a hand down his face. "We did the right thing, didn't we? Why did she have to go and do that?!"

"Maybe she couldn't take it. We committed a heavy crime... I just didn't think she'd go that far." the brunette stated, almost matter-of-factually.

"And why are you so God damned calm? Huh?!" Yu questioned. Seriously, Yosuke's nonchalance was starting to piss him off.

Yosuke snapped.

"... Do you know how destroyed I am?"

He suddenly broke the bottle, got up and pointed its sharp remains at Yu's face.

"Do you have any idea of how much I cried today, even before I heard about that? Rise was the one who came knocking at my door to tell me. At the time I couldn't even cry. And I tried! She got angry, and then beat the shit out of me because of that!"

He forcefully tug his headphones away from his neck using his free hand, revealing several scratch marks, some of them still red, along with signs of suffocation. "I don't think I can even cry, anymore. So, if you wanna face me about it, I'm warning ya: you are NOT a girl. I'll be more than happy to vent all my frustration on you!" His voice was raspy, but not with anger. Instead, it was full of angst.

Yosuke was really starting to become a better bluffer, in Yu's eyes. And huh... that's where those marks came from... but he still couldn't care less.

He slapped the broken bottle away from his face, and was about to shove his fist down Yosuke's throat...

But that was just going to make things worse.

He let out a heavy sigh and sunk back in the bench.

"I'm sorry, man." Yu apologized, supporting his head on his hands. Yosuke lowered his head and shrugged.

"It's alright." he said, as he dropped the broken bottle to his side and sat back on the bench.

With that, they stayed quiet for a while, with the smell of Sake lingering about.

...

"Hey, can I sit there?" they heard the voice of a male asking from the bottom of the stairs.

Yu looked in the man's direction. He was fairly tall, had pale skin, blond slicked back hair, and a beard that followed his jawline. He wore an open white jacket which had two horizontal black stripes on its mid section over a plain grey t-shirt, blue pants and brown shoes. He also had a pendant that seemed to be a spade dangling from a collar around his neck. Maybe he was in his middle age... he appeared as old as his uncle.

"Crap... hide the bottle away!" Yu hissed.

His friend was about to hastily do so when the man interrupted. "No, no. It's alright. No need to hide it. In fact..."

He took a bottle of a western wine out his purse. "If you don't mind, would you care to drink a little more with me?" he asked with a small smile.

... Huh. That was not expected.

Yu and Yosuke looked at each other, and agreed to let him sit with them. The latter quickly dropped his own pack to the side.

"Can I ask your names?" the man broke the ice as he took his seat.

"Name's Yu. This here is Yosuke." Yu introduced them both.

The man quickly popped another question. "Why were you guys drinking? It doesn't seem like you were doing it for fun." he asked as he uncorked his bottle with a rather shiny corkscrew.

"What's it to you?" Yosuke quickly retorted. Less than three minutes sitting in that bench, and he already wanted to know too much.

"I'm pretty much doing the same, so I'm interested," the man asked again, already pouring his first cup of wine. That was quite the cup, actually. It was probably made out of silver, given how shiny it was.

"Why don't you tell us your story first, then?" Yu asked.

"Hm. Fair enough." he stated before starting. "You see, my father owns a really big company. He naturally wanted me and my younger brother to take part in the family's business. My brother accepted it without a problem, but I've always had plans to live a life of my own, so I refused. My father got really angry..."

He took a sip before continuing. "He kicked me out of the house right there and then. That hit me the wrong way, 'cause he was always so kind... it kinda tore me up. I had to live at a friend's house until I got things covered up, which didn't take too long. Soon, I managed to get an apartment, a car, and even got to open up a shop with his help. At first, I was proud of it, but then..."

He chugged directly from the bottle "...my old man started to bug me about it like, everyday. We even argued directly once, but he put me back in my place. Apparently, my brother did something big, and now my father is always trying to find any and every possible way to brag about the fact that my brother is better than me, and whatnot. To take a break from all this, I left the shop to my friend's care, and went on a little vacation. So... here I am." he finished with a wry smile.

"Hm. Cool story, bro..." Yosuke stated dismissively, slurring his words a bit. His story was cool and all, but theirs... theirs was a story of justice, vengeance, regret, and a bunch of other feelings.

Did that just pass through Yosuke's head? Maybe all the booze from today and last night had finally managed to hit him. He didn't care, though.

"I guess it's you guys' turn, now." the man said.

"Are you sure you want to hear it?" It was Yu's turn to ask. Despite the concern that his words expressed, the tone he used managed to pass the message across as a threat of sorts...

"Wouldn't have told mine if I didn't." ... which went right over the man's head.

Yu sized the man up from head to toe. His speech didn't show it, but he was actually pretty drunk. His head was even swaying a little from side to side. Then Yu looked at the bottle of wine... and it was nearly empty.

Dammit, they didn't even get a sip of that... wine was awesome...

Meh, why not. He'd forget it in the morning, anyway. "Okay, but promise you won't tell anyone."

"You've got my word." he raised his right hand.

"You see, in this town, four people died. One of them was the girl that Yosuke liked, and my little cousin was one of the victims, too." Yu started.

Yosuke was still giving the man the stinker eye, but he was going to roll with it for now.

"Me, my friend here, and some other people were the only ones who could figure out who was the culprit behind those deaths, because we knew witnesses." he continued.

"Why didn't you tell the police?" the man asked.

"Because the police deemed the witnesses as unstable and disregarded their testimonies." Yu lied. He shrugged before continuing. "... So, after months of investigation, when my cousin was the one being targeted and kidnapped, we managed to corner the the culprit. We fought, and both him and my cousin were sent to the hospital, but..."

Yu tried to search for an euphemism.

"... after a while, she didn't resist. We found out that the culprit was in the same hospital. We went to find out where his room was, and found the door unguarded, because my uncle had tried to break in, and the guards had to take him back to his room. This was our only chance to do what was right, so..." he wasn't really sure how to finish the sentence.

"We entered and killed him." Yosuke stated blankly, with his head hung low as he supported his elbows on his knees.

Yu threw an annoyed glance at him.

"... Oh." was all the man had to say.

Yu cleared his throat and tried to regain his composure before continuing. "Even now, we question ourselves whether it was the right thing to do. One of our friends apparently couldn't take the burden, and..." he paused, thinking about what to say. "...left the group. Now, we're here, trying to forget all that by drinking."

Some seconds of silence followed that. Eventually, the man chugged down the rest of the wine.

"... I think you did the right thing."

Both teens looked at the man, in shock.

"You remained true to yourselves, and averted a possibly greater danger, but..."

Pause.

The man closed his blue eyes, and when he opened them again, his left eye turned red.

"... you missed something," he said, showing the ghost of a smile on his face.

As he got up to leave, he looked completely sober. He snapped his fingers, and the bottle, the glass, and the corkscrew disappeared. As he picked up his purse, Yu and Yosuke quickly got up and blocked his way.

"I knew we couldn't trust you! What the Hell do you mean we missed something?" Yosuke questioned, taking an aggressive stance.

"You haven't told us your name yet. Who are you?" Yu barked the question.

The man chuckled. "That's right, I never really introduced myself, did I?" he asked, and then began to casually walk towards Yosuke.

The boy readied a wild swing at his face. The man then vanished, and immediately appeared behind him with his back turned. The brunette released his punch too late, and ended up losing his balance due to the momentum. Yu managed to catch him before he fell face first on the ground, however.

"My name is Louis Cyphre. Let's just leave it at that, for the time being."

With that, the man climbed up the stairs out of the river bed, and when he got to the last step, he looked back at the two. "Until we meet again. Farewell." he said, before completely disappearing.

They ran towards the spot were the man had once been, and found two crimson keys with a spade for a head, and a club as the code. Both of them had name tags, one with Yu's name written on it, and the other with Yosuke's.

For a few seconds, they remained silent.

What the Hell?

How the Hell?

And more importantly, who the Hell?

"Yosuke?"

"What?"

"It's not over yet..."

"Yeah, I know." Yosuke said, frustrated.

They had just put an end to a mystery... Why was that happening to them? Would they ever be free?

He groaned. "But we'll get to the bottom of this, right?"

"I sure do hope so." Yu replied, contemplating what just happened.

Yosuke smiled weakly. At least he had his partner to count on.

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><p><strong>AN: Second chapter's done. Hope you liked the changes, and hope you liked the chapter, if that's your first time reading it. See you guys next chapter.**


	3. Twist Of Fate: Fortune

**Hello again, and welcome to another chapter. I would answer reviews, if there were any. Anyways, if you have read the original CE, well... this is one of THOSE chapters. If you haven't, well, good read. Hope you enjoy it. **

**I don't own persona, smt, or nothing. Now that that's out of the way, let's get this started**

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><p>Naoto's face was indifferent and contemplative, but it was really just a bluff. Inside, she was deeply hurt. She was really seeing Yosuke's point. But... was this the truth they sought? Did her short journey as a detective lead her to commit such crime for the sake of justice? And Nanako-chan... she was so mature, independent and strong at such young age... she shouldn't have been the one to go. Was it always going to be like this? Was she always going to lose those dear to her, and have to make such difficult decisions? If it was, she didn't want this kind of life anymore. She left.<p>

But stopped as soon as she closed the door behind her. Maybe all was not lost. She hadn't made up her mind entirely, but she felt like she could trust that Yu was going to do the right thing. And something was nagging at the back of her head... maybe... but she wasn't sure.

Then she heard Rise crying, and the sound was getting closer. Naoto then made haste to hide in the adjacent corridor and waited until Rise's footsteps were not so loud. She poked her head out of her hiding spot to see Rise running while wiping her tears.

Naoto understood her... she must have bean facing heavy doubts... After she made sure that Rise was far enough, she quickly got out of her cover and stood closer to the door. She pressed her ear against the door and heard Yosuke saying:

"Yu... you and I both know the best how much this man took from every one of us. I lost the one I loved, we lost Nanako, because of him Dojima-san is hurt, and I am sure someone cared enough about Yamano to be grieving upon her death, even to this day. That Mitsuo kid even tried to copy him, and killed King Moron! As I said earlier, the law can't touch him, because even if we told the police what happened, they would never believe us, and you know that."

Yes, it was true that the police couldn't do anything. She was one of the people who could attest to that fact. Hell, the police was nearly discarding Namatame as a suspect, because they couldn't get anything 'straight' out of him. They had their hands tied.

Yosuke spoke again: "So it all comes down to a simple solution: we push him into the TV and it's all over."

His words managed to strike fear on her. Even though he was not screaming, and even though she was still in the outside of the room, his tone passed all of his negative feelings across.

He was dead set on doing it...

But at the same time, his choice of words clicked something inside her. Something was not right there, but she couldn't quite put her finger on what it was. One thing was certain though:

They were missing something.

"No need to worry about him coming back, no need to keep our guards up at all times... it'll be truly over. You are the leader, I'll follow whatever you decide to do. So, what will it be?"

After that, there was silence.

Yosuke really had a point... but just thinking about it sent chills down Naoto's spine. But she still had doubts... that nagging feeling insisted in staying.

Inside the room, Yu was thinking about what to do.

Naoto was trying to figure out what was it they were missing.

Yu knelt down to Namatame's eye level.

Naoto was asking herself why was Namatame so shaken? Shouldn't he have been relieved that he succeeded on 'saving' Nanako-chan?

There was still silence.

She was still trying to reason out that inconsistency. In fact, when they faced Namatame in the TV world, He said 'You are the ones I saved'. If salvation was death in his visions, shouldn't he have failed to save the ones he kidnapped? She heard the suspect yelp from inside the room, then nothing else. It was all on her, at that moment. She had to figure that out quickly, before Yosuke and Yu decided to go through with the former's plan.

If Namatame did not see death as salvation, why would he throw the one he loved into the TV? It made no sense.

As for the second victim, Saki Konishi... if he tried to save her and failed, he was likely never to use the TV again.

Unless...

Unless someone else killed the first victims.

Then he started to use the TV to save the ones he kidnapped... Since they always got out safely, he never stopped throwing people in the TV world, believing that he himself saved them!

Yes! That was it! Joy, hope and confidence were starting to fill her thoughts. Now, she just needed to form an argument to convince Yu and Yosu-

"Let's throw the bastard in," she heard Yu saying.

"I knew you'd make the right choice, partner," Yosuke's voice followed soon after.

Naoto froze, dumbfounded. She completely forgot that she was running out of time. The muffled screams, and the sound that came from the other side of the door only served to deepen her state of shock. And the distinctive sound of the portal to the TV world being crossed made her knees wobble.

She... failed.

After some seconds, she heard footsteps coming from inside the room, which broke her out of her daze if only for a brief moment. She quickly hid in the same spot from earlier and waited for Yu and Yosuke to go away.

She poked her head out of her hiding spot, after making sure that she was not hearing any other footsteps.

She lowered her head and bit her bottom lip.

There she was... hiding again.

Why did she always have to hide from everything?

She hurried out of the hallway before the guards returned. She did not know how she was going to explain that situation.

Once she judged herself out of the danger zone, though, she stopped paying attention to her steps and bumped into Adachi, who was also not paying attention to where he was going.

Naoto adjusted her cap. "Oh... forgive me, Adachi-san," she apologized, still downtrodden.

He straightened back his suit. "Nah, no big deal."

Actually, yes big deal.

She was already walking past him, but he had to ask her something.

"Hey, Shirogane-san."

She turned around. "What is it?"

"Where are your friends? I saw Amagi-san leaving alone, before, but I didn't see anyone else. I thought you all were going to leave together, or something..." he asked.

Hmmm... think, Naoto, think...

"Oh. That... we decided to look after Namatame, since you and the guards were busy with Dojima-san, but Yukiko's help was requested at her family's inn. We remained there, but Namatame suddenly jumped at us. Not even Kanji-kun could hold him back, so we decided to go look for you, assuming that you were returning, already. That was not the case, however, so I went back to check on the room... and found no one there. The window was open. I haven't seen the others since, so I was searching for one of you, again. I'm sorry..." Naoto tipped her hat down.

She was horrible at lying when she was nervous...

Adachi's eyes widened at that. "What?! He escaped?!"

"I'm afraid so..." she lied poorly, so now she had to cut her losses and carry on. "I can help you search for him... he mustn't have gone that far..."

The older detective almost cut her off. "Nononono!" he said as he put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

... What?

"I'll go get help. You go home and get some rest. I can see the bags under your eyes... you're tired."

She didn't get it... he was letting her off the hook, just like that?

Naoto, however, was not about to miss the chance. "... Yes, you are right. Thank you."

"Rest assured! We'll take care of that!" Adachi saluted with a goofy grin.

She just nodded back. "Good night, Adachi-san" she turned around and left.

... There she was, lying again.

Why did she always have to lie about everything?

After that, she walked silently out of the hospital. She could feel raindrops on her hands, and on her face as she looked up at the cloudy sky. Which made her remember...

It was all over...

She had failed...

The people up there where she was looking at must have been really disappointed.

She sighed, and began to stroll back home, each step heavier than the last, her head lowered and her eyes wet all the way.

**-Shirogane State-**

Upon entering her house, she turned on the lights. Her grandfather was on a business trip, so she was all alone in the household. She was hungry, but she could care less.

She went straight upstairs to her room and cried all the tears she'd been holding. Why was she crying, not even she herself could answer.

Maybe because of everything.

Too many choices, too much pressure, too many deaths...

So much she was guilty of...

She was supposed to not let that kind of thing get to her, but she was pushed far beyond her breaking point, that night.

After an hour or so, she stopped crying. Not even her tears could drive her to sleep.

She began thinking: why was she a detective? All those years looking up to those 'cool' guys that solved every kind of crime, all the time spent on reading novels and watching movies, all the time spent on learning how to act and behave like a detective, the realization that made her dress like a man, the strength to carry on after the adults treated her like a child, the strange murder case that suddenly popped on her desk one day...

All of that... a huge waste of time.

She didn't want that kind of life, anymore. She wasn't up to such huge responsibility. She was led to believe that was her vocation because she grew under such fine examples of detectives, but... that life was not for her.

She failed way too many times.

She didn't get it, though...

She had the wisdom, the wits, the knowledge, even the guts, but she still let innocent people die.

In fact, she even put her friends in trouble, all because she wanted to prove her deductions and theories. Because she tried to reason with Namatame back in the TV world, Nanako stayed there more time than she should have. Because she didn't come up with an argument in time, he died before she could get anything out of him.

Maybe she should have just barged in the hospital room to stop Yu and Yosuke.

Maybe she herself should have been the one to tackle Namatame when they were rescuing Nanako.

But alas, she couldn't.

She could only try to use reason because she was too uncertain, too afraid of what would happen if she didn't. Try to use reason was the only thing she could do, she was the wisdom of the team. It was like that even in her social life... she couldn't say anything... no... she couldn't take a step without thinking about every possible effect it could have, under every possible circumstance.

But in the end, all of that was useless. None of that mattered.

She still failed. Many times.

Then it hit her:

... Maybe she, herself, was useless.

She was nothing but a burden, now that she thought about it. She was only there to slow them down... The team would probably be better off without her.

All her lifetime she aimed to become something, and when she could finally say that she reached her objective, it was all for nothing... 15 years down the drain, like that.

The path she had chosen and took pride on was useless...

Waste of time... regret... time was never going to give her a chance to retrace her steps... her years would forever remain like that... useless.

Now would be the time to look into the future, but... she was good at nothing else. She had no other skills... she had jumped at the dream of becoming a detective so blindly and proudly, the thought of devising a plan B never even crossed her mind.

What was she going to do now?

Never once was she so afraid of her future. What was going to become of her?

She could choose another path, but... what if she wasted another 15 years of her life in something useless, again?

Was she going to live her whole life without finding a purpose?

Was she always going to live under that uncertainty?

... Would her uncertainty hurt someone else in the future?

She couldn't think of anything...

It'd be so easier if she could just run away from it all... run away from her uncertain future...

The lack of control over her future steps was an agonizing pain. She always had everything under control, but as quickly as that, she'd lost the reins of her own life.

The strings in her heart were being pulled apart by each thought that crossed her mind.

But wait...

There was a way out...

She actually could escape from her future.

Her mind went blank and her heart stopped for a moment. She took the revolver out of her pocket. She stared at it for some long seconds, as she recalled what she thought earlier.

'She was useless'

'She had wasted all of her life for nothing'

'She had failed so many people'

'She had no hope for her future'

...

Then nothing else.

...

**-Inaba Municipal Hospital-**

Adachi turned around as soon as Shirogane left. That was too good to be the truth! He had to see it with his own eyes.

He saw cleanly through her lies. He could tell that all that bullshit was just to hide the fact that something happened while they were there. And Adachi had an idea of what transpired in that room, but he needed to confirm it as truth.

Those slow clowns were still taking care of Dojima, and thought that Shirogane and the kids were taking care of Namatame. Blame the shortage on staff, or they just wanted to make sure that Dojima was okay, whatever. Adachi didn't care.

He finally reached the empty room, and the first thing he did was test his theory.

He poked his head into the TV.

Dark gray clouds, a giant red cross, a majestic throne, and a floor with paintings of numerous crowns of thorns on the ground and walls, were the things Adachi saw in his surroundings.

But more importantly, he saw Namatame's unconscious body, right in the middle of the room, in front of the cross.

Adachi had a wide grin plastered on his face.

He couldn't believe it.

The kids really did it!

He heard some growling coming closer... multiple Shadows started approaching Namatame.

If he could, Adachi would summon a bucket of popcorn at that moment.

But something was strange...

He was feeling a much more overwhelming presence, and it was not coming from any of those shadows...

And it was fast approaching.

Suddenly, what looked like a beast with numerous heads, and wearing crowns fell from the sky.

Adachi closed his eyes to shield his eyeballs from the dust that kicked up.

When he opened them again, he saw a lady, who was apparently riding the beast come down from its back.

He managed to get a glimpse of her 'face'...

... It wasn't a pretty sight.

But he kept watching the scene, enthralled.

The lady approached Namatame, squatted down next to him, and rested his head upon her lap.

Adachi didn't understand what was going on, anymore.

She started caressing the unconscious man's cheek, and stroke his hair softly, but then...

But then...

He stared wide eyed at the scene.

And then laughed uncontrollably.

Oh, man... that was a horrible way to go.

He wiped a tear and brought his head back out of the TV.

That. Was. Awesome!

He made a mental note to thank the kids for that, one day, as stuffed his hands in his pockets and left the scene.

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><p><strong>Aaaand done rewriting this chapter. I changed a lot of stuff... seriously. And made it a little darker, I guess. *squints* A little. The review box is right down there for you to leave your opinions, critics, flames, compliments, whatever you want, I'm Raidou the 16th... And I'll se y'all in the next chapter.<strong>


	4. The Sanctuary

**Hello again, guys. Welcome to another chapter. This follows the same day that chapter two left at. Now, to answer the reviews.**

**afterados: THANK YOU MAN YOU ARE AWE- *ahem* Thank you for the compliments. Making characters convincing is one of my biggest (paranoia) worries, so if I manage to deliver characters that people can understand, then I am happy. Hope you enjoy the rest of the story. **

**Stofen: Yep, you're right. That was one of the main flaws of the original one, but as you can see, it's fixed, now... at least I hope so. Glad you enjoy the rewrite. **

**Hawkeye Reticle: Yeah, little errors here, and there... my grammar is not perfect, as much as it should be, and I'm more concerned about the imagery, most of the time, so yeah... that's a problem I have to take care. But I'm glad the chapter managed to strike your feels.**

**I don't own anything, blahblahblah, on with the chapter. **

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><p><strong>-Souzai Daigaku-<strong>

Yu and Yosuke decided to take a break from asking around. They were trying to gather information about the mysterious man named Louis Cyphre, but only learned that he wasn't from Inaba. Gathering info was pretty much the only thing they could do at the moment. With the way he disappeared, that man could have been from outer space, for all they were counting on.

The two teenagers took a seat, and Yosuke broke the silence.

"Steak croquette, please." he ordered from his seat. After straightening up and crossing his arms, he turned towards his partner. "You came across anything?"

"No, nothing." he answered. "He's not from Inaba apparently... like we didn't know that."

"I got the same." the brunette replied as his meal arrived. He shrugged off the look she gave at his scars. He would have thanked her, if he wasn't so worried. "... You won't order anything?" he asked Yu.

"I'm not hungry." he replied tiredly.

Yosuke looked at him with concern. He was really torn by all that's happened, wasn't he? Yosuke, himself was taking that pretty hard, even though he was really making an effort not to let that get in the way of his thoughts and actions. But... maybe he didn't get how much his friend was suffering.

"Hey... you don't need to stay here watching me eat, man. If you want some time to think about things, I'm not trying to hold you down..." he offered. He wasn't trying to shoo his partner off, or anything of the kind. He was just concerned.

"Thanks, but I think I'll get more than enough alone time when I get home..." Yu answered, looking away.

Yosuke cringed.

Smooth.

Maybe it'd be best for him to shut up.

And so, they spent the rest of the afternoon in silence. When it started getting dark, the two went their opposite ways.

**-Dojima Household-**

As Yu took off his shoes to enter the house, his cell phone vibrated. It was a message from Yukiko, saying that Naoto was dead.

It was as if the gods were trying to stick salt in his wounds.

He replied: 'I already know. Yosuke told me," and was about to shove his phone back in his pocket, when another message came.

Yukiko had replied: 'Huh? How did he know? Me and Chie told everyone to hold that from you two.'

'Rise told him. He said it was a little after lunchtime'

'Oh... Anyway, I'm sorry for that...'

'Yukiko,' Yu began typing. He was planning on scolding her about hiding that from him, but he thought of what happened earlier that day. It just wasn't worth it.

'... thanks for the concern' he completed and sent the message. He then threw the phone to the other side of the couch, not caring about what answer he would probably get. Some seconds later, his phone vibrated again, but he ignored it.

He sighed, then decided to take a shower and get ready for bed

What a day...

He wore his pajamas and sat on the futon. Before he slept, he analyzed the key that man Louis had left behind. It was like an antique styled key, only it had a spade for a head, red on one side and pure back on the other. The shaft was a shiny, metallic crimson, and the code was a clubs symbol, black in color. Attached to the head was a small cord that held a tag. It was made of metal, and Yu's name was engraved in it, with his first name on one side and his last in the other.

Yet another key.

Weird...

Yu tried to make sense out of it, but eventually decided to put it under his pillow and went to sleep. He was much too tired.

What he did not notice, was that the key started to shine brightly under his pillow.

**-?-**

He opened his eyes, ready to be greeted by the sight of the Velvet Room, but was instead met with a blindingly bright light. It was a completely different space.

Yu was sat on a comfortable plush chair situated in front of a table clothed in red. He squeezed his eyes shut and gave his head a good shake, seeing as the flash gave him a dull pang of pain there. Once recomposed, he looked upon his surroundings, although his vision was still a little bit blurry.

With his eyes slowly adapting to the lighting, the white walls with blurry gold were revealed to be that metal trickling down and carving paths out of the surface like rivers. The gilt ground had the lines of yellow running between square tiles made of black and white marble.

Although his surroundings appeared mostly white, a red hue was cast over the walls; the light scarlet color that soaked through came from a sky hung above a glass dome ceiling.

His observations were interrupted by a groan. "...what's going on...?" a familiar voice asked. It appeared to be close... Right by his side, actually.

Yu turned his head to the right to see someone slowly materializing on the seat next to him and raised an eyebrow.

"Am I dreaming...?" the newcomer wondered aloud.

What the Hell was Yosuke doing there?!

"...Oh, hey, man," the brunette greeted his friend. Great. At least he wasn't in that strange place by himself. "Do you know where we are?" he continued. He probably didn't know, either, but hey. Worth a try.

"No idea..." Yu trailed off. He couldn't shake off the weirdness of Yosuke's appearance in his... dream?

"Hello..." a female voice was heard. The two teenagers looked around, but could see anyone.

"Do not be alarmed." he heard the same voice whisper in his left ear. He promptly turned his head to the side, and was met with big, clear yellow eyes, staring into his own silver ones. "You're fast asleep in the real world." the owner of the voice continued. She had bent over to reach his ear, and when she straightened herself up, making up details became an easier task since she wasn't all up in his face.

She towered over Yu as he was sat down, but he was probably taller than her if he was to stand up. She had short blond hair that was neatly tied in two swirly pigtails and had light skin, even lighter than Yukiko's. Her small smile was highlighted by a pink, slightly glossy lipstick. Her sleeveless white dress reached down to half of her thighs, and was adorned by a red ribbon tied on her mid section.

"Welcome to the Sanctuary! My name is Catherine. Pleased to meet you." she exclaimed as her smile widened.

Yu's head was packed full of questions.

"What exactly are you...?" he asked.

"I'm a resident of this room. There are three others, but they left to take care of some business." she answered casually.

"Who are those three?" Yosuke was the one to ask.

"I am one." a male voice was heard, then the sound of a door opening could be heard. Yu recognized the voice. A light came from the wall across the table where the two were sat. After the light subsided, a door appeared on the wall, and a blond man walked into the room.

"Hello." said the man that called himself Louis Cyphre as he walked towards the table. "And welcome to the Sanctuary."

"You!" Yu and Yosuke said almost in unison before getting up to confront him. The latter tried to walk around the table, but Catherine had stopped him by holding his wrist.

"Let go, dammit!" he yelled as he tried to break his hand free of her surprisingly strong grasp. She just shook her head at him while he kept on struggling.

Yu, however, was more than sick of all those mysteries. He climbed over the table and stomped his way towards the man.

"No need for hostility. I mean you no ha-" Louis started, but was interrupted by the silverette grabbing him by the collar.

"Cut the crap!" he yelled before pulling Louis closer. "You're gonna start talking now!" he continued through gritted teeth.

"I was going to, but then you abruptly interrupted me. I know that you're emotionally unstable due to everything that has occurred, but I am not the one you want to release your anger upon... yet." the older man stated calmly.

"The Hell do you mean?!" Yu spat the question. "What are you?! Why are you here?!"

Louis sighed. "Can you please let me go?"

"Speak the Hell up! Now!" the teenager apparently didn't hear his request.

"... I apologize in advance." he said, before grabbing the boy's wrist with one hand...

And then he lit his own hand on fire.

Yu felt the burn and immediately backed away from Louis with a yell of pain. His persona was weak to fire, dammit!

"What the fuck are you?!" he questioned as he held his hand. He could hear a zapping sound and Yosuke screaming, at that moment.

Louis straightened his jacket. "To answer your question... I am Lucifer. As I have been trying to say, I mean you no harm, and we have quite a lot to talk about. So why don't you have a seat?"

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><p><strong>Short chapter, I know, but please, review and leave your opinion. It means a lot. See you guys next chapter.<strong>


	5. The Sanctuary: Pt 2

**Hey, y'all. Welcome to another chapter. I wanna thank afterados and Hawkeye Reticle for their reviews and compliments. Well, as always, I don't own anything, yadayadayada, enjoy.**

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><p>Yu raised an eyebrow, the first and only showcase of surprise and confusion he could come up with at that moment. Lucifer? As in the the christian Prince Of Darkness? What?!<p>

"What?!" Yosuke was the one to vocalize his partner's thought, ironically enough.

Louis cleared his throat. "As for the reason why I summoned you here... I know details about the murder case you have been investigating, and I'd like to share them with you."

So, the Antichrist was saying that he was aware of the murders, knew details that Yu, himself didn't, and was willing to share such details with him? What was going on? Did he miss something along the way? He most likely did, but maybe 'missing something' was a huge understatement. It probably was. So, what could he do, at that moment? He was summoned in his dreams to an unknown realm, had probably nowhere to run to, he had Yosuke by his side, who must have been equally clueless about the situation...

But then again, if he was Lucifer, he could have been the one behind everything, trying to deceive him. And then again, he could be telling the truth. And again, maybe he wasn't even Lucifer. And then, yet again, this could be just a dream and everything going on could be a product of his imagination, so what the Hell? What to do?! He looked at Yosuke, and he has still being held by that Catherine girl. Those yellow eyes... was she from the Velvet Room, or something?

So. Many. Questions!

What could he do? He could keep trying to confront Lucifer, but he had little to no evidence that he was the one behind everything. He could sit down to listen, but he had no evidence that Lucifer wasn't the one behind everything, either.

"Are you really going to take your time? If so, I won't tell you the story of this whole murder case." Louis stated calmly.

Yu was still facing the dilemma. He could be lying, he could be doing anything to deceive him, but he had no other leads to move him forward. And apparently no ways to obtain leads or clues, seeing as the Velvet Room only had him know things when it was time to, and they sure didn't tell him anything yet. And even if they did, it would end up being something extremely cryptic.

He eventually shook his head at himself and turned towards Yosuke. "Let's hear what he has to say." he gave the order reluctantly.

The brunette was still bent on confronting both Lucifer and Catherine, but he obeyed, even if he didn't want to.

"Catherine, if you'd please." Louis commanded, and she nodded before whispering something. She gave Yosuke's hand a squeeze, and the burns on his hand from the electricity attack disappeared, along with the scars he had previously. She then let go of his hand, and he proceeded to go take his seat.

Yu began to walk back towards his seat, and Catherine got in his way, but only to take his hand into hers and heal his burns, as well.

With both teenagers sat down, the residents took their seats across the two.

"Again, I apologize. Now, as I was going to say, I have been accompanying your journey for quite some time. From various perspectives, at that." Louis began.

"What, have you been watching us this whole time?" Yosuke asked.

"Not only you, but all of those involved. Your journey has piqued not only my interest, but that of some other parties, as well. And now that things took the turn that they did, I judged it to be the time to interfere."

"So you know everything?" Yu questioned.

"Indeed."

"Then tell me, already!" the silverette was starting to lose his cool, again.

"Since you are so hasty, I'll start explaining." Louis said, as he leaned back on his chair. "For one... Namatame never killed anybody."

Both teenagers halted completely at that. Seeing as neither of them could come up with an answer, he continued. "His first target was in fact the girl called Yukiko Amagi. And he was a persona user, although he never did use his."

Yu was having a hard time choosing between the millions of questions in his head.

"After losing his job and the breakout of his scandal, he fell into despair. During a night of drinking, he decided to try for himself an urban legend that he had heard some days prior... the Midnight Channel. And when his unplugged TV came to life, he saw the one he loved, Mayumi Yamano on the screen. He kept wondering about the occurred as the media kept pounding on his affair, until the foggy day came, when Yamano's body was found hung upside down from an antenna by a girl named Saki Konishi. He was shocked, and thought that maybe the Midnight Channel had something to do with his lover's death. So he waited for another rainy night. And that time, he saw the girl called Saki on the screen. He freaked out, and tried to think of a way to warn her."

As he said that, Yosuke started biting his bottom lip.

"But she rejected him, judging him mentally unstable and deranged. So, powerless, he watched the Midnight Channel again, to see Saki writhing in pain. The next foggy day came, and brought the girl's body, hung upside down from a telephone pole. He had failed to save someone, again. So he fell into depression.

He watched the Midnight Channel yet again, and that time he saw another girl. He recognized her as Yukiko Amagi, despite the blurry image of the 'broadcast'. He was so desperate that he even tried to reach inside the screen to get her. And his hand passed cleanly through the screen. He tried to get help from the police, but he was once again brushed off. No one believed him. He knew that he was going to be ignored if he tried talking to Amagi, so he decided to take more drastic measures. He decided that he'd hide her in a safe place, where not even the killer could catch her. The world inside of the TV."

Yu's disbelief was very visible on his features.

"What? That's bullshit! Why did he keep kidnapping and throwing people in the TV to save them?! That place is dangerous as Hell, we had to work our asses off to," Yosuke trailed off.

Louis shot a small smirk at him.

Oh...

That was a huge vicious circle, wasn't it?

"And that is Namatame's side of the story."

"... Is that all you have to tell us? You just called us here to rub the fact that we killed the wrong guy in our faces?" Yosuke asked, almost enraged. And he was going to keep pressuring Louis, but Yu stopped him abruptly before turning to the so called Antichrist.

"Who killed the first two victims?" he asked.

"Now that is the real question. I could tell you, but then you would rush out of your room as soon as you woke to go and confront the person."

"Of course! Why wouldn't-"

"And you would die." Louis cut Yu off.

Yu stopped for a second before raising an eyebrow, questioningly and defiantly.

"The person would kill you. In my view, you are no match for them. This person is also a persona user... more precisely a Wild Card, such as yourself. But far stronger. Not only in brute strength, but his psyche is far stronger than yours. So much so, you could never read through them, even to this day." the blond man stated.

The silverette was at a loss for words. What the Hell did he mean by 'not able to beat whoever that was'? Of course he could, dammit, he had to!

"The fuck are you talking about?! We can't beat this person?! To Hell with that, we'll make them pay with blood for what they did!" Yosuke couldn't restrain himself, anymore.

"So, you deem yourselves strong enough to defeat the person?"

"Damn straight, we are!" Yosuke continued, while Yu was still dazed. Or rather, contemplating possibilities.

Who could be stronger than him? He honestly had no idea. It was impossible, no one he knew was a suspect. He was extremely puzzled.

"I don't think so. Can you prove to me that you are strong enough?" Louis... taunted?

"How?" Yu asked.

"Do you think you could take me on?" the man continued.

Yosuke was taken aback. Yu, not so much. He had at least braced himself for that.

"So, I guess you won't tell us who the culprit is until we prove to you how strong we are, right?" he asked.

"Exactly. I want you to show me that you can defeat the one behind the murders. By prevailing against my angelical aspect, to be more precise."

"Do we have a deadline?" Yu questioned again. What if there was an ultimate time limit to getting the bottom of this case? He wasn't about to take chances... well, more than he was already taking.

"You'll have time to prepare. You can even decline, if you don't believe me. You can believe that Namatame was the killer and go on with your lives, believing that everything has been dealt with, but consider this: Why was he so shaken? If salvation was death for him, why did he get so frustrated? Why did he fail to 'save' your late cousin? He should have rejoiced.

What about when you confronted him in the TV world? You should remember his words well... 'you were the ones I saved. Don't worry, I'll protect this girl, too,' he said, at the time. Think about it." Louis said, as Yu took his words into consideration. Very solid points, he held. "And I am also well aware that I am the only one who can give you the leads to the culprit. The other who could have helped you has passed away, as well."

Wait. Did he mean...

"... Naoto? Did she reach that conclusion? When?" Yosuke was the one to question. He was the puzzled one at that moment.

"Well," Louis trailed off, then looked towards Yu. "That is a story for another time. And speaking of stories for another time, I don't think I should keep you here any longer. Although time means little here, it still marches on in your world."

The two teenagers exchanged glances between themselves, as if to search for an agreement. Agreement on what? Maybe a new course of action, maybe opinions. Something.

"Take your time, set your minds straight, prepare, and come back here when you judge yourself ready, or if you want more answers pertaining some subjects. Depending on the subject, I just might help you. There are entrances to this place your world, so use your keys whenever you wish to come here."

Yu was the first to break eye contact, and nodded to Louis. Yosuke kept staring at him with doubt, but he eventually decided to go along.

"So, until then," Louis said and the two's eyes began to be filled with black dots. "Farewell."

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><p><strong>Aaaaand done. As always, leave your opinions and critics on the review bow below, I'm Raidou the 16th, *thumbs up* and I approve this message. See you all next chapter.<strong>


	6. Forgive Me, Forgive Me Not

**Yo, y'all. So, college started for me, life is catching up again. So my updates will not be that frequent... srnk. As if they've ever been. Anyway, thanks for the reviews, I don't own anything, hope you enjoy the chapter, let's get it started.**

**Before you start, though, consider listening to a song called "Unforgiven 3", by Metallica. Now, enjoy the reading. **

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><p>Yosuke woke up very early in the morning in the Sunday. He sat up on the bed and glanced around his room.<p>

Teddie still hadn't returned.

He ran both hands down his face and sighed. What the Hell was happening? What was that dream?

Or more importantly: what had he done?

Not only did he kill the wrong person, he killed the one who tried to protect Saki, back then.

But then again, that shouldn't have been the biggest of the issues with what he did. He had Chie, who helped him get over her, he had every other person that Namatame kidnapped with the hopes of saving them, he had the fact that he let his anger overcome his better judgement at the time when it mattered the most, he had the fact that in the one time he managed to make an important decision for the group, he screwed it up...

Hell, he even had Naoto and Nanako to put into consideration. And he had freaking killed someone, dammit.

And yet, the first thing that came to his mind was Saki.

Why?

Was it because he still had some crush on her, even after her conscience said she hated him, and even though he liked Chie? Was it because Namatame tried to protect her when he couldn't? Was it because she reminded him of his failure from back then?

... Was his ego really that big? Was his pride really that big of a part of his thought process?

He tried to shrug the thoughts away, but he couldn't. Everything kept pounding away at his brain, creating a mix of regret, rage, hate and frustration. He groaned and wanted to bang his head on something, but ultimately decided against it. He took a deep breath before getting up to go to the bathroom, but before his feet even touched the ground, he found a blank piece of paper under that red key on his bedside drawer.

He turned on the lamp and took the paper, before turning it around. It was a note, written on a very neat handwriting.

'Dear Yosuke Hanamura.

Nothing is in vain. Everything has a meaning. Every action has a consequence. That is the natural course of the world. You are not exempt from this rule. Your actions are consequence of everything around you, too.

True guilt comes from within. What hurts you the most in your guilt is your pride. You have deviated from the ways you've chosen, and your pride is hurt for not being able to live up to your standards. You feel ashamed, and you don't know how to confront others. But know this: there is no grief born from guilt beyond forgiveness. Those dear to you whom you think you've betrayed need you. Your friends need you. You need to be by your friends' side. So forgive yourself, and let others forgive you. Guilt and grief can inebriate you just as much as anger and hate.

If you want proof of these words, speak with Chie Satonaka. Then you will understand.

Best regards.

Louis Cyphre'

... So that wasn't a dream. Yosuke lowered his head. He was to talk to Chie to understand that he wasn't guilty...? But of course he was guilty. He did kill Namatame. It was his fault. Did she, of all people even have a chance of forgiving him? Well, he had to talk to her sooner or later, so he might as well give it a shot. He had nothing to lose, anyway.

Oh, the feeling of having nothing to lose. Wonderful. Not.

He could try to go back to sleep, and he was tired, but he didn't feel like he'd be able to sleep. So he decided to go wash his face. He saw on the mirror that his scars were gone. Then he went to the kitchen to grab a fruit, or something light to eat. Then he went back to his room and decided to browse around the internet in his notebook for a while.

On the first page, the first trend he saw was the death of the Detective 'Princess'. It seemed her secret was exposed, but never mind that. Even her grandfather was coming back to town. The police seemed to have discovered her body and quickly reached the conclusion of suicide... and the head of the investigation was Adachi? What? With direct orders from Dojima, himself? That was something.

'Although the case was simple, the previously rookie detective Tohru Adachi showed promise by clarifying the circumstances, while casting shadows on the department's attitude towards the late young sleuth by tying the cause of her suicide to the disrespect she suffered because of her age. Her connections with the department were cut short as soon as the suspect of the serial murder case, Taro Namatame was arrested. She was dismissed without the due respect, reward or recognition, even though she had doubts in regards of some unclear circumstances, and even though she helped bringing the suspect into custody. What changes will these allegations bring? Has the department tried rush the closure of the case?'

Wow. Adachi was bringing the house down? Way to seize an opportunity.

But never mind that.

Again, he was reminded of Naoto's death. He felt his heart clench, and wondered how her grandfather felt, having outlived his granddaughter. Then he sighed. Again, he felt as if he couldn't cry, as much as the situation demanded.

What was becoming of him?

He'd like to say that she wouldn't want to so see him grieving so much, but he did he really know her? She was very introverted, and despite the group's efforts to loosen her up, she had never really opened up to the group like Rise, Kanji... all of the others except Yu. And that was saying something, given the fact they helped her face her Shadow.

He shook his head, before changing the page to something else. Anything to get those thoughts out of his head. Maybe he'd play some games in the mean time.

After roughly two hours of leveling up in Holy Wars Online, he turned off his notebook. It was bright outside and he was hungry, so he went to the kitchen to get some breakfast. His morning went on just the same as any other Sunday, only his parents tried to talk to him about Naoto. He just gave shallow responses and said that he was fine, even going as far as to say that she wouldn't want her friends to be so down, so he was trying his best. Lunch time came, and everything was the same, only a little more awkward. He had the day off, so he planned to stay in his room without doing anything. And go to his room he did.

He opened his laptop to log in the game again, but he thought of that note. Was he really willing to talk to Chie? The best thing that could happen was her giving him the silent treatment until she eventually said something along the lines of 'I can't be your friend, anymore'. But they would have that talk sooner or later, whether Yosuke liked it or not.

He grabbed his cellphone and clicked on Chie's address to send her a message. 'Are you free this afternoon? I really have to talk to you.' he typed in, and hit the send button.

Some three minutes later, his cellphone vibrated. Chie had answered: 'Okay. Where do you want to meet?'

'At the riverbed, in an hour. Is that okay?'

'I'm already here. I'll be waiting.'

'Okay. See you in a bit.'

Yosuke flipped his phone closed. At least she was willing to talk to him. He just brushed his teeth and threw on his casual clothes before he started making his way to the meeting place.

...

**-Samegawa Floodplains, Riverbed-**

Yosuke descended the steps and found Chie sat on the bench, panting. Maybe she was practicing her kicks by herself before he arrived. He approached her.

"Hey," he greeted somewhat apathetically.

"Hello," she greeted back, also not in the most animated way. "So, what did you want to talk about?"

Huh. Straight to the point. "I, uh..." Yosuke didn't know where to begin. That was going to be really bad, wasn't it.

He pinched his forehead, trying to think of a way to begin the conversation. He eventually settled on start . "Chie, do you remember what happened at the hospital...? Of course you do." he said, before the urge to facepalm beat strongly in his head. Dammit, Yosuke. "Umm, I wanted to tell you something."

The hard part was that moment.

"What we did there... was not the right thing."

Chie raised an eyebrow. The half scowl she wore was slowly giving way to a mildly interested, but neutral face. "What do you mean?" she asked.

"We," he trailed off and rubbed the back of his neck. "shouldn't have killed Namatame," he continued.

She had previously braced herself for that remark, though as the sentence hit her ears, she was still caught off guard. Yosuke went on.

"Me and Yu discovered that it wasn't the right thing to do not that long ago. We still don't know why, but we're working towards the answer. I thought you deserved to know as much, cause you were always a good friend to me. If you don't want to involve yourself with this, I won't force you to fight by our side." wow, did all of that come out of his mouth? He could not shut up once he got started, could he?

Chie was still trying to absorb all of the information when he spoke again. "I also wanted to say that I'm sorry. It was me who made the wrong decision. I betrayed you all when I let my stupid anger take over when I needed to think." he kicked a rock aside while he spoke.

"I'm as much as murderer as we thought that Namatame was. You were a friend that I didn't want to lose, but you deserve the truth, so if you wanna hate me, beat me, kill me or something, I won't fight back. I don't think I deserve to be forgiven." Yosuke looked down, as if he was trying to hide his non existent tears.

But not because he was faking. He just didn't find the tears to cry. Again. He just felt like a waste of space, then. His own words beat hard against his chest.

She looked at him with no expression on her face whatsoever. While he wasn't looking directly at her, she knew that he was bracing himself for whatever reaction she was to express.

To be honest, she, herself wasn't sure what to do. She could hate him for being the jerk he always was, she could beat him for turning against the team, she could kill him for making the wrong decision and becoming a murderer. But she eventually got up and...

"I forgive you, Yosuke." Chie got closer to Yosuke and wrapped her arms around him. An embrace that he didn't find the strength to return. He just kept his head lowered, and silently, a single tear rolled down his left cheek. Not a cry, not a sob. Just a tear. Of joy, of self pity, of regret, perhaps. He briefly wondered where that tear came from, but he stopped shortly after. After some long seconds, she broke the hug apart.

"You, too, are a friend that I don't want to lose. We all make mistakes."

"But I killed someone that didn't deserve to die. That's not some 'mistake' that can be easily forgiven."

"I know. But just because it isn't easy, doesn't mean that it's impossible."

Silence

"... Chie... Why?" Yosuke finally looked straight in her eyes, not bothering to wipe the tear from his cheek. He still couldn't read her eyes. Not because they were empty, or because she was hiding something. It was almost as if her feelings were written on a language that he couldn't understand.

"Because I..." Chie started, but time seemed to stop as a million questions passed through her mind. Could it be that moment? Was that moment meant to be? What would his answer be? Would he feel obliged? Would he feel pitied? What would happen then?

Was she ready?

No. At least not now.

"Because I can't bring myself to hate you. You'll always be my friend." she finished, looking straight at his brown eyes.

Yosuke still couldn't fully believe his ears. Maybe Chie killed him and he was experiencing his last dream. But then, the second tear trailed down his cheek, slowly washing away any doubts that he still had.

"... Thanks, Chie." Was all he could muster the will to say.

An awkward silence followed. One was lost on the others thoughts, until they realized that they have been staring at each other for quite a while. After fidgeting a bit, she broke the silence.

"So, ummm... You wanna train? It's been a while since I last sparred with anyone, so..."

She was blushing, if only slightly. Yosuke found himself lost on the faint red of her cheeks. She really was cute and-

Wait. Spar? That suddenly reminded him of something. Something very important, at that. He finally wiped the tears off his face and his expression brightened.

"Oh, sure." he answered. "No need to go easy on me!"

After readying themselves, they sparred for a while before they decided to grab something to eat. Chie eventually said goodbye, and left to her house. Yosuke, however, still wandered on the streets for some time. He needed to think and sink in all that had happened. In the end, the note was right. She did forgive him.

He wondered if Teddie would forgive him, too.

It was getting very late and he was tired, so he went back to his house to take a shower and maybe get some sleep. Yes... perhaps he would sleep better that night.

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><p><strong>Aaaand done. As always, leave your opinions and critics in the review box below, I am Raidou the 16th... and I approve this message.<strong>


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